Save The British Film Industry.Com

THE PROPOSAL

Updated June21 2011.

Following the  takeover bid by property developer John Whittaker via Peel Pegasus and the now expected granting of planning permission for houses to be built on the 105 acres of greenbelt land which will join Pinewood Studios to London postcode, then SAVE THE BRITISH FILM INDUSTRY.com urge the Government to take a golden share in Pinewood Shepperton PLC at the share price as on October 2 2009. This values the company (property and brandname at under £60 million). This prevents any private owner just selling off the 273 acres of Pinewood and Shepperton for retail or houses, closing 34 sound stages in the process.

Meanwhile to insist that the owner expand the Pinewood and Shepperton brand around the UK but not outside the EU. To terminate the selling of the British Film Industry flagship brand names to non-EU countries.

 They can be given up to 10 000 acres of ex-industrial land across The West Midlands, Wiltshire, Staffordshire, Oxfordshire, Yorkshire, Wales, Scotland to build the greatest concentration of sound stages and film sets and tourist sites and theme parks which double as film and TV sets. This blesses the Pinewood Studios brand, gives them a staggering land base (of land no-one else wants to buy and employ people on) and makes the UK have more sound stages, sets and trained film crew than the rest of the world put together. This will suck in film and TV finance in every language. It will turbo-charge tourism. It will gentrify, beautify, glamourise the unlovely parts of The UK and attract in private sector investment in every business field.

This is to ensure the company survives as a film factory vital infrastructure facility based in The UK.

1.   SAVE THE BRITISH FILM INDUSTRY.com seek The Government to use all Lottery Money ringfenced for the film industry, regeneration finance finance, EU regional and electronic media finance to  facilitate and build the genius state of the art film factory infrastructure expansion proposed by Pinewood Shepperton Board (and announced several times on national TV news) but to do so where it is both needed and most wanted, in  Wiltshire, North Oxfordshire, The West Midlands, and to then in future years to expand it in the North-West, the South-West, The North-East, The East Midlands, Scotland, North Wales and other UK regions with huge empty ex-industrial land bases. To create this  vital national strategic infrastructure where it will be most cost-effective and most accessible. This includes The National Screen Craft Academy.

2. SAVE THE BRITISH FILM INDUSTRY.com seek The Government in future years to expand the integrated  infrastructure from Wiltshire and The West Midlands into Cornwall and Scotland, Wales and The East of England to create a truly unique competitive advantage to The UK as a magnet for film and TV investment.

3. SAVE THE BRITISH FILM INDUSTRY.com seek  The Government to lock down use of the global brandnames Pinewood Studios and Shepperton Studios to remain solely within The UK as vital national strategic assets.  At very least to be confined to The EU. This will tear up any renewal of agreements with Canada, Malaysia to let them trade under the Pinewood brandnames  to get the $100 million to $300 million Hollywood Studio sub-contracts and jobs. Even under EU law the French have no difficulty in protecting vital strategic assets such as yoghurt factories.

SAVE THE BRITISH FILM INDUSTRY.com seek that Government will  ensure that the Pinewood and Shepperton Brand names remain in the UK but become vital resources to the entire UK  on a regional as well as national and international level.

It is as the Chinese Government has said in 2010 ’soft power’ in foreign policy and hence a vital national security asset and can be a much more potent asset by UK expansion of the brand.

This  expansion across the UK will create a £25 billion film annual revenue, TV, merchandising, gaming, tourism industry across The UK and be a magnet for all manner of private sector investment. It will in itself create 250 000 jobs especially for Neets, regenerate and add glamour to run down cities and regions. Plus attract in private sector investment in businesses and jobs wanting to be near the media glamour movie making brings.   It will create inspiration, hope and pay packets. It will enable Britain to be The Big Society. 

Jonathan Stuart-Brown                                    

 www.savethebritishfilmindustry.com